


Synchronous

by netherooze (Raelien)



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Season/Series 03, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-24
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2021-01-02 15:36:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21164006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raelien/pseuds/netherooze
Summary: Her voice was the quietest he'd ever heard it, but it still pierced through the silence of the cell."Sorry it took me so long! I accessed the security network to see what cell they'd put you in, but then the feeds weren't labeled properly, and trying to match them up with the ventilation blueprints took a while."Hordak gaped soundlessly at her.Left with little alternative, Hordak is forced to flee the Fright Zone and attempt to lay low among the native Etherian populace.Entrapta helps.[Canon-divergent after season 3]





	1. Escape, Part I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I am using the term "tabard" rather loosely in this fic to refer to Hordak's standard garment. It's a stylish space tabard, OK?)

Overall, Hordak was pleased with his state of affairs by the time the portal reopened from the other side—stable this time. 

Catra was in no position to undermine him again, his armor was stronger than ever, and the strength of the accursed Princess Alliance was finally waning. That he had his lab partner back at his side, ready to be presented as a valuable consultant from the native population, was most satisfying of all (loath as he may have been to admit it).

Perhaps all he had built, given how little he'd had to work with, would finally be enough to prove himself to his lord and Brother. 

He held himself with pride as beings who shared his face began to emerge through the portal.

In the end, however, Horde Prime remained unimpressed.

* * *

Hordak sat unmoving for an unknowable stretch of time.

Years ago, he had personally overseen the construction of these cells. He knew the technology that comprised them intimately. 

Stripped of his armor and all his tools, the knowledge did him little good.

Accompanied only by the incessant, low buzz of the containing field and the occasional small sound from another cell, his thoughts looped.

He hoped Entrapta had fled the compound. She was exceedingly crafty when the need arose, and he had no doubt she was capable of evading Prime's forces. 

Perhaps Imp had gone with her. The last Hordak had seen of him, the little gargoyle had been scampering away to hide in the shadows—Prime's forces had swatted him away when they grew tired of his screeching complaints over Hordak's arrest.

Hordak had been a fool to think his Brother's view of him could ever be changed. How often had he scoffed at the unfounded optimism of other species as the Horde crushed their attempts at resistance? After all his experience, he'd ended up guilty of the same folly. The hypocrisy of it burned now.

He'd always prided himself in learning from the mistakes of others. How many of his own top lieutenants had ended up in one of these cells at one point or another? Perhaps this was a fitting end.

As he continued to stare unseeing at the opposite wall of his cell, idly wondering whether the ache he felt in his gut was hunger or just his body craving the support of his armor, he slowly became aware of a new noise: a series of soft, semi-rhythmic thuds, growing very gradually louder. He doubted any being with average Etherian hearing would have noticed it.

His pulse kicked up as he cocked an ear toward the sound. It appeared to be travelling through the vents.

The thuds continued to grow louder, becoming recognizably metallic, until they abruptly ceased. The high-pitched whine of a machine took their place.

He tried to squash a budding feeling of hope. Optimism was what had gotten him into this situation in the first place. He faced the tiny vent and braced himself as well as he could in his current state.

The scent of superheated metal hit his nose, and a few minutes later, the brilliant, red light of a laser cutter split through the panelling of the wall near the vent. 

He followed the movement of the cutter as it progressed in a round path, a little more than shoulder-width in diameter. His breathing halted in anxious anticipation as the cutter neared its starting point, the circle complete.

The entire circle of panelled wall was yanked away, and two tendrils of lavender hair emerged and braced themselves on either side of the hole. Entrapta's beaming face quickly appeared between them. 

Her voice was the quietest he'd ever heard it, but it still pierced through the silence of the cell. 

"Sorry it took me so long! I accessed the security network to see what cell they'd put you in, but then the feeds weren't labeled properly, and trying to match them up with the ventilation blueprints took a while."

Hordak gaped soundlessly at her.

Entrapta pulled herself the rest of the way out of the hole, gently set her feet on the ground, and continued unimpeded. "I know the laser fields and narrower vents would deter some people, but a primary duct system that can fit an average-sized adult is still a pretty big security flaw, you know."

Hordak swallowed. "You came for me."

She rested a supporting lock of hair on his shoulder. "Of course! You came for me first, after all—once you found out where I was."

When the silence stretched, filled only with his shuddery breathing, she offered him an encouraging smile.

"Usually you would've said something more by now, but I guess circumstances are a little unusual right now."

She drew closer, and her brow furrowed as she stared at his face. "Could you use a hug?"

Hordak made a helpless noise.

"Using context clues, I'm going to take that as a yes." 

She gently drew him to her by his shoulders with her hair and wrapped her arms around his torso. He exhaled sharply and let his head rest against the top of hers, letting her hair take most of his weight.

"Horde Prime did not forget my failings before, and he's unlikely to do so now. If I flee, he will hunt me. You should have left this place, fled the Fright Zone on your own—" A lock of hair thwapped softly against his mouth.

"Ah-ah-ah—I know from experience that it doesn't feel good when people go and do that, so no."

Hordak sighed. "Without my armor, I can't—"

"Oh, don't worry about that! I thought ahead." She set him gently against the wall, moved back over to the hole, and poked her head through. He heard a whispered shout of "Are you OK in there? What's the hold up?"

She pulled her head back out, and, shortly after, Imp emerged from the shadows, huffing as he dragged something large behind him.

Entrapta helped him tug it the rest of the way out of the opening and set it carefully on the ground, revealing it to be a fabric-shelled case of some kind.

Her hair moved in a frenzy, unsealing the case and pulling out tools and a few instantly recognizable forms of metal. Hordak's shoulders sagged in relief.

"Both the opening I cut and the ducts as a whole should accommodate you, even with your armor on."

She flipped her mask down and made quick work of encasing his body back in its prosthetic shell, guiding his limbs with her hair as usual, and he cooperated as best he could. It had been a taxing day—or had it been days?—to say the least. 

Imp perched on the edge of the open case, tail twitching anxiously. 

"How did you retrieve all this from under Horde Prime's nose? Where was he keeping it?"

She kept her face turned to her work. "Oh, I didn't it take it from him at all—this is the spare set I kept in cache four. It's only version 6.12, so it doesn't have the most recent improvements, but it should still hold up fine for now."

He looked again at the pieces covering his right arm. There were slight differences between it and the armor he'd been wearing when he was arrested, he realized. When he looked down toward his neck, he saw that this suit was powered by the original First Ones crystal she'd used in the earlier suits, instead of the larger crystal of the most recent incarnations.

He blinked and thought over her words again. "'Cache four'? How many caches do you have scattered around the citadel?"

She flipped her mask back up from her face and smiled impishly. "A lot!" She took a step back. "All done! How do you feel now?"

Strength was returning to his muscles, and the constant dull ache in his chest was slowly receding. "Better. Much better."

Able to stand on his own power again, he straightened up and schooled his expression. Imp settled on his shoulder with a pleased chirrup, lightly butting his small head into Hordak's neck.

Hordak had many more questions, but most of them could wait until later.

"Have you charted an escape route?"

"I've got a few possibilities in mind. You'll— You'll come with me, right?"

She didn't quite reach for her mask, but her gaze darted down to her tools as she waited for his reply.

He stared at her for a moment, and then down at the emblem emblazoned across the front of his tabard, and swallowed hard. He had much to contemplate, but that could also come later. For now, he needed to get moving and keep moving.

"Of course. Where are Horde Prime's troops posted?"

She turned back toward him eagerly.

"There are guards posted at the cell block entrance, but Horde Prime is gathering up everyone around the citadel in the main hall for a big announcement or something, so almost everybody should be tied up with that for awhile."

Horde Prime's big announcement—that the Fright Zone, and soon all of the planet, were coming under new management. That Hordak was indeed a failure, as he had always been. It was no wonder Prime had left him only lightly guarded.

Later. These thoughts could wait until later. Or preferably forever.

"Good. Have you had a chance to gather supplies yet?"

"Somewhat! I have most of what we'll need in cache nine. ...though I suppose what we really need first is disguises."

His lips pursed. "Hm. Uniforms and helmets could be acquired from the supply station in block D. Can we reach it via the duct system?"

Entrapta pulled a datapad from a pocket of her overalls and tapped at it furiously.

"Yes, and I can access the security network remotely. Our path to block D is relatively clear, and I can keep monitoring as we approach."

She resealed the case, and Hordak grabbed the strap of it before she or Imp could make a move for it.

"I feel fine," he insisted. It wasn't as though the case were even particularly heavy now.

Entrapta nodded and moved toward the vent. "Ready to go?"

"Yes."

"We're heading left—if you guys climb in first and wait off to the right, I can climb in last and reseal the hole before we leave."

It was a sound idea; they may as well delay any eventual pursuers as best they could.

Hordak nodded and didn't hesitate before bracing his hands inside the opening and clambering in with the case in tow. Once he was through, thankfully the duct itself proved to be much wider than the hole Entrapta had cut. Imp followed him in, and they easily maneuvered to make room for Entrapta. 

Although the rapid movement of air through the space they occupied now was making Hordak blink frequently, his species had excellent night vision. It was commonly thought that they'd been cave dwellers before they took to the stars, and it may well have been true.

He watched as Entrapta used her hair to pull herself into place and to brace the circular slab cut-out where she wanted it. She pulled portable welding tools from another pocket of her overalls, flipped her mask down, and set to work.

It took her less time to reaffix the slab than it had taken her to cut it out, and then her tools were secured back in her pocket, the datapad was held in front of her by her hair, and they were off.

Though wider than the hole they'd entered through, the duct network was still cramped enough to necessitate crawling, and their pace was steady but slow as Entrapta guided them through the maze. At first, Hordak kept his face turned forward, but the view of Entrapta's hindquarters as they crawled proved oddly entrancing. He chose instead to train his gaze on the soles of her shoes and keep an ear out for voices nearby.

When Entrapta halted abruptly, Hordak nearly crashed into her bottom face-first before hastily backing up. Imp shot him a questioning look as he landed smoothly between them.

"We're here," she whispered. She turned to the vent on their right, thankfully much larger than those in the cell block.

He held his breath and listened. "I hear no one nearby. The security feed?"

"All clear." She pulled out a multitool from yet another pocket and raised it to a corner of the vent, but Hordak placed a hand on her arm to halt her.

"Before we emerge, where are we headed once we're disguised?"

"Cache nine is in block A. Do you need anything from the sanctum or your quarters while we're there?"

He thought it over. There was much he'd once considered vital in his sanctum, but nothing that mattered now. His quarters, on the other hand, were a different story.

He had a modest supply of clothing, outerwear, and accessories in his wardrobe, which may prove to be of use, and some medications that had helped manage a few symptoms of his condition.

"It may be wise to retrieve some clothing from my quarters if we have the opportunity." He paused. Entrapta was well acquainted with his weaknesses. Entrapta did not judge him for them. "And—medications."

Entrapta continued, completely unphased: "OK, we'll head there first, then. Cache nine is just around a corner from there, and then it's just a quick stop at cache three on our way to the hangar bay."

Yes, taking a craft of some kind from the hangar bay, preferably something small and unremarkable, was their most direct route out of the Fright Zone as a whole.

"Very well. Let's proceed."

Entrapta flashed him one more smile and set to work on the vent cover.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first time writing for the fandom and my first time writing anything multi-chapter in a good long while, so comments, kudos, or encouragement of any kind is highly appreciated. :')
> 
> The next chapter is mostly written and should be up within a day or two.


	2. Escape, Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Out of the black and into the blue.

The vent cover quickly fell away under Entrapta's efforts, and they clambered out into the room one after another. 

The specific area of the supply station that they'd targeted—which housed a selection of Horde uniforms—had no door, only an open doorway. They would have to move quickly.

Hordak set the case down and moved to where the base unisuits were kept, and Entrapta moved wordlessly toward the body armor and helmet housings. Digging through the folded stacks of unisuits until he found the appropriate sizes, he tossed one at Entrapta and pulled one out for himself.

He removed his boot-greaves, but instead of trying to remove his tabard while portions were still trapped beneath his prosthetic armor, he simply tucked the hanging ends of it up the back of the unisuit as he pulled it on. It wasn't the cleanest solution, with how the fabric bunched up against his back, but the torso armor would hide it, and it would do. Thankfully the unisuit's material was designed to accommodate a wide variety of body shapes, so it had no trouble stretching over his armor.

He turned to see how Entrapta was faring. She'd removed her gloves, shoes, mask, and overalls and dumped them into the case on the floor, and she had the unisuit pulled most of the way up her body. She'd paused while shoving her arms into the sleeves. 

"I guess some of my hair will have to fit inside this too." 

As usual, she was correct. Floor-length hair dangling out of a helmet was liable to attract attention in a way they would want to avoid.

She made a face as she maneuvered most of her hair down into the back of the suit and into its legs. 

Refocusing on himself, Hordak forewent the standard uniform boots and knee armor in favor of redonning his own boot-greaves; they were too large to store in the case, and they provided some additional stability to his legs. The anatomy of some soldiers necessitated uniform customization of this sort anyway, so they wouldn't look too out of place.

Entrapta was strapping on boots and greaves of her own by the time he joined her across the room, her hands already sporting new Horde-standard gloves.

He realized absently that he'd never actually seen her bare hands before.

They quickly secured belts, vambraces, pauldrons, and cuirasses across their bodies, assisting each other where convenient. The fit over his own armor was a bit awkward at times, but it stayed in place well enough.

Almost as soon as Entrapta had fit her head and the rest of her hair into a helmet, footsteps approached the room.

Hordak noticed Imp darting to hide inside their case out of the corner of his eye, but both Hordak's and Entrapta's attentions shot to the surprised cadet framed by the doorway. "L-Lord Hordak!"

Nobody moved. The cadet was small, and Hordak could easily dispatch him, but it was likely the cadet would scream or otherwise draw further attention to them.

Hordak reached for the usual authority that he'd wielded over his soldiers. "I am not Hordak. I am a member of Lord Horde Prime's contingent. All of us share the same face." There'd be no reason for one of Prime's soldiers to be wearing this particular uniform, but this cadet wouldn't know that. "Why aren't you in the main hall?"

"Um, well, I was on my way there when Force Captain Octavia stopped me and said the state of my uniform was a disgrace and to change it out before I dared—"

"Enough. Very well." Hordak closed up the case gently, shouldered it, and grabbed an appropriately sized helmet from a shelf. "Report immediately to the main hall when you're finished." 

"Uh, yes sir!"

Hordak turned sharply to Entrapta. "You!" Her body snapped to an only slightly imperfect attention. "With me." And with that, he strode confidently from the room. Entrapta followed just a few places behind.

Once clear of the doorway, Hordak slipped the helmet over his head. He grabbed two large knapsacks from a rack of them as they passed, shouldering one and handing the other to Entrapta. The deputy quartermaster seated behind a desk gave them a slightly confused look as they left the area but ultimately just shook her head and said nothing.

Hordak considered with a pang the disarray that his own forces had likely been thrown into upon Horde Prime's arrival.

Two corridors further toward his quarters, Hordak spotted a security camera tucked into a corner of the ceiling and abruptly realized that he'd made an oversight.

Falling into step close to Entrapta and keeping his voice low, he hissed "The security feed in the supply room—"

Her voice was oddly distorted by the helmet. "I set it to loop before we left the vent—don't worry."

A least a small portion of the tension he carried left him. "Excellent."

Thankfully they passed few others in the halls and made it to Hordak's quarters without further incident. 

Once they were safely inside and out of view, with the door locked behind them, they shed their helmets for and dropped their knapsacks for the moment. The case was gently set down and opened. 

Entrapta seized the opportunity to yank her hair back out from the back of the unisuit, grimacing all the while. "Ack, even without my hair inside it, this suit is awful. What material is this?" She examined a portion of her sleeve as she tugged at it.

Though he'd been the one to approve the standard Horde trooper uniform design here on Etheria, Hordak had to agree.

It clung horribly against his thighs, and it _itched_.

There was some small comfort in the fact that they were uncomfortable together.

"I'm not sure what composition the textile engineer settled on, but I agree that it's unpleasant. The uniforms will only be necessary until we're clear of the Fright Zone—then we can both be rid of them."

Imp scrambled out of the case and repeated Entrapta's utterance of the word "awful." Hordak offered some quick scritches to his head before crossing to the wardrobe.

Even as the leader of his own forces, Hordak had kept his quarters quite austere by Etherian standards (and only rarely indulgent by Empire standards). 

The modest, utilitarian wardrobe stood adjacent to the equally modest and utilitarian bed. He opened the metal doors and quickly reached an unpleasant conclusion.

Of his primary garments, nearly everything was burdened with the Horde insignia or color palette—nothing that would help him blend in outside of the Fright Zone. Even the extra outfits for Imp that he kept in here were unfailingly red and black as well.

Entrapta, who'd wandered up behind him with the datapad she'd apparently retrieved from the case, seemed to notice his problem.

"We can always find new things on the road! Oh—or if you really like some of these, we can bleach them!"

Hordak nodded.

After tugging open a few drawers, he shoved only some undergarments, a few pairs of gloves, and his one relatively unremarkable gray cloak into a spare bag. He wasn't attached to any of his clothing, and carrying around incriminating materials until the opportunity to bleach them arose would be impractical regardless. He would have to find or make something more at the first opportunity.

He wasted no time in proceeding to the attached washroom, bringing the new bag with him. He placed a moderate supply of pills, ointments, and lotions inside and closed it up.

These rooms had been his ever since the construction of the citadel, but they had never been his home. The thought that he would never see them again was not a difficult one.

When he reemerged into the main chamber, Entrapta was waiting at the door with her knapsack on her shoulders and her hair and face hidden away again, though the datapad was still in her hands.

"The assembly is starting. Ready to go?" Her voice still sounded odd through the helmet's distortion.

He pushed the bag of clothing into the bottom of his knapsack, shouldered both it and the case, ushered Imp back inside his hiding place with an apologetic pat, and redonned up his helmet. "Yes. All clear?" 

She nodded, and he followed her out the door.

Hordak should have realized when Entrapta had said that cache nine was "around a corner" that she'd been referring to her own quarters.

He'd given her Shadow Weaver's former rooms. She'd apparently left her mark on them since then; the sorcery texts and magical objects he'd glimpsed briefly before were all stacked in a corner of the main room, and the space had been completely overtaken by tools, screens, and half-finished projects. It appeared to be chaos at first, but Hordak could see at least a loose system of organization in it even at a glance.

Emily greeted them with a cheerful beep as they entered.

The door was locked behind them. The helmets, packs, and case came right back off again, and Entrapta fell upon Emily in a hug, her hair emerging from the unisuit to wrap around the bot. Imp emerged and perched on one of Emily's legs.

Hordak glanced around the room again. "Where do you keep the supplies we need?"

Entrapta straightened up and crossed over to her bed to kneel at its side. "Down here, mostly." She yanked out a wide, flat storage bin from underneath and opened it up. At her familiar "hand me what I need" gesture, he passed her her knapsack and knelt alongside her with his own. She started packing things away in both bags and listing them off as she went.

"So! We have a full standard tool set with a few additions, some basic replacement parts for your armor, charged power supplies, a solar charger, loaded storage drives, a spare datapad, an outdoor utility kit, a first aid kit, a few Etherian currencies, toiletries and hygienic products, nutrient supplements, rations, tiny rations, water, fizzy drinks, aaaaand—" She reached with her hair for a box sitting on top of a nearby drawer unit, which she then upended into her knapsack."—my clothes."

Hordak blinked. "What are we retrieving from cache three?"

"A tent. And a skiff key."

He looked again at the contents of their knapsacks. "Half of this is not Horde-issue equipment or provisions. Where did you _ get _ this?" He was speaking more to himself than Entrapta, he realized.

"A few different places, but it's kind of a long story." She scratched at the top of her head with her hair. "I'll tell you later." He supposed they would have plenty of time for talk during their travels.

He stood and moved to picked up his pack."Is there anything else you need?"

Entrapta stood as well, but with some hesitation. She was staring at the floor in front of Emily, he realized. He stepped aside so she could move to stand in front of the bot, who gave her an inquiring chirp.

"I'm—I'm sorry, Emily. You'd attract a lot of attention outside of Horde territory, and there might not be charging ports where we're going."

Emily emitted a despondent whirr. Entrapta laid a hand above the glowing, purple optic unit.

"Scorpia can take good care of you again, OK? And we'll contact you as soon as we can safely send a signal." Her hair coiled slightly then went limp again. "If—If anything happens, even half a charge should last you through a trip to sector 23. Go there and find a place to hide in sleep mode, and I'll come find you."

Emily bobbed affirmatively and nudged Entrapta's leg with her body, emitting a low whine. Entrapta gave her one last hug and uttered a strained _"Goodbye for now"_ before darting back over to grab her pack and her helmet. She shoved the latter on her head as soon as her hair was back under the unisuit.

Hordak felt something unpleasant tighten in his throat, but he ignored it. He was surprised to see Imp offer the bot a hug as well, wrapping his small arms around her leg before scurrying back into the case, shooting Hordak a pointed look as he went.

Hordak exhaled and moved to take his own place in front of the bot.

"Stay safe, Emily. You've proven to be a steadfast companion, and your presence will be sorely missed during our travels."

Emily seemed to preen slightly under the praise, as much as a bot of her construction could.

Hordak gave her a quick pat and moved back to pick up the case and his helmet. 

An affirmative nod from Entrapta, who was tapping at her datapad again, some final waves to Emily, and they were headed back out the door. The bot's leg wagging in an attempted wave back was just visible before the door closed.

Entrapta's shoulders seemed to sag as they proceeded down the corridor. Hordak placed a hand on one of them, knowing that she would barely feel it through the armor, but she seemed to straighten slightly nonetheless.

They hurried toward the hangar bay as fast as they dared. Thankfully, others in the halls appeared to be hurrying as well, late to join Horde Prime's assembly.

They passed the junction they would have taken to get to the main hall and continued on, now against the flow of the waning foot traffic. They were nearing three quarters of the way to the hangar bay when their luck appeared to run out.

"You there, why aren't you in the main hall?" One of Prime's men, apparently keeping watch in the small lobby where they now found themselves, was turned their way and moving toward them.

The standard Horde Empire helmet concealed the soldier's face, but he sounded almost bored, and his accent was sloppy. His uniform revealed him to be a lieutenant.

To be challenged now by one who wasn't even a captain—so notably far below Hordak's former rank—was nearly comical.

Entrapta spoke up first. "Electrical malfunction in the hangar bay. They said it was urgent and sent us from engineering to take care of it."

The lieutenant's arms crossed. "And who is 'they'?"

To remain silent and let one person do all the taking would be to invite suspicion.

Hordak's face contorted as he attempted to heighten his voice. He need only channel every irritating grunt who'd been brought before him over the past decades. "Two of you new guys? They didn't offer names or anything."

The lieutenant huffed.

"Fine. Proceed." He dismissed them with a wave of his hand.

Proceed they did, through the door, down a hallway and three flights of stairs, and then into an alcove at Entrapta's direction. When the hall was clear, she found a loose panel in the wall and removed it, revealing an eclectic array of objects crammed between two support columns. The tent she pulled out was quite small in its collapsed state, and when Hordak turned and knelt so she could place it in his knapsack, it fit without issue.

She replaced the panel carefully, a skiff key hanging off one of her fingers, and one last corridor later, they were in the hangar bay.

The area was vast, built to accommodate numerous airships and land vehicles of varying sizes classes and the equipment to service them, but it was thankfully largely deserted at this particular moment—doubtless owing largely to Horde Prime's summons. The traffic director's overlook was empty. A few soldiers were unloading supplies from a smaller ship of Prime's fleet, but no one paid them any mind.

Hordak steered them toward the fuel stores to grab a few jugs, and they continued to where the smaller vehicles were kept, approaching the air skiff Entrapta indicated—it must have been the one marked to match the key she carried. Hordak climbed in first and set down the fuel jug, knapsack and case he carried and gestured for her to pass her fuel jug to him before he reached to help her up. She no doubt could have easily embarked with the aid of her hair, but it would have been a difficult task for someone of her stature without it.

He guided her to crouch low to the floor of the skiff with him, trying to avoid attracting any last-minute attention, and accepted the key when she passed it to him. He watched the soldiers still at work by the other ship and cast a wistful look at their vessel. Fleeing the planet altogether would have been ideal, but not when the only route off-world was a monitored portal into Empire-controlled space.

When the unloading crew had fully loaded their hovercart, they all headed deeper into the citadel, presumably for some to deliver the supplies and others to fetch a new hovercart and continue.

Hordak swiftly inserted the key, fired up the skiff, and guided it smoothly out of the hangar bay and out into the landing field, hardly daring to breathe all the while.

Pulling further away from the citadel and pulling in shuddering breaths, he'd never been more grateful that no one on Etheria had dared steal from the Fright Zone. The relative lack of established security had further smoothed their way considerably.

He chose a westward bearing that would take them both out of Horde territory and far away from Bright Moon and its Princess Alliance and set them on course.

He'd stood stiffly at the helm for several minutes, feeling simultaneously as though his mind were blank and his thoughts were racing, when Entrapta's voice broke through the dull roar of the wind.

"We did it." She shifted along the floor to sit on the other side of the tiller, nudging his boot-covered toes with hers. She'd pulled her hair out from underneath the unisuit and twisted it into a braid—probably before it was wise to do so, but he wouldn't begrudge her that, and she at least still had her helmet on.

Hordak saw Imp land on his shoulder, though he couldn't feel it through multiple layers of armor, and he realized that Entrapta must have opened the case to let him out. Hordak had completely forgotten.

He blinked at the floor of the skiff in front of him. She'd also packed the fuel jugs, knapsacks, and case away in the rear storage compartments, apparently. How had he not noticed?

He shook his head, partially in admonishment, partially just to clear it. "We're not even clear of the Fright Zone yet."

"Still. We've made it this far!" She threw celebratory hands in the air. "We should drive in shifts, though I admit I've never driven one of these before. It seems simple enough, but I'll watch how you do it for now."

He wanted to protest, but he was slowly becoming aware of how hungry he was—and how he wasn't sure how long it had been since the last time he slept. He nodded.

He willed his body to relax its stiff posture a bit. It still felt as though some unidentified tension needed to be dispelled by speech.

His eyes drifted back to Entrapta. He wished he could be seeing her face instead of that dull helmet.

"Thank you," he murmured, but it didn't carry over the wind. 

He cleared his throat, tried again. "Thank you. For retrieving me from the cell block. And for enabling our escape. And for accompanying me." He fought the absurd urge to fidget.

"You're welcome," she said simply, right as they crossed the border of the Fright Zone.

Now their primary concern became clearing the border of all Horde-occupied territory.

"We've cleared the capital now," he told her. 

She pulled her helmet off with a sigh as he maintained their course, one that would carry them away from Horde Prime—away from the Horde, and toward whatever an existence looked like without it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that it took me longer than I'd hoped to get this posted! It ended up being a bit longer than anticipated. 
> 
> The good news is that I've gotten the research and significant portions of coming chapters out of the way in the meantime, so it should all even out in the end. It looks like 7 is a more likely chapter total than 5 at this point.
> 
> Thank you so much to those who left kudos or kind words in the comments—they've been a huge encouragement. I've put up a oneshot since S4 dropped, but this fic is still my baby, and I'm chugging away at it. See you soon!


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